"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
The sun is hot and that old clock is movin' slow and so am I
Workday passes like molasses in wintertime, but it's July
I'm gettin' paid by the hour, and older by the minute
My boss just pushed me over the limit
I'd like to call him somethin', I think I'll just call it a day
Pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve, but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere
Well this lunch break is gonna take all afternoon and half the night
Tomorrow morning I know there'll be hell to pay, hey, but that's all right
I ain't had a day off now in over a year
My Jamaican vacation's gonna start right here
If the phone's for me, you can tell 'em I just sailed away
And pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve, but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere
I could pay off my tab
Pour myself in a cab and be back to work before two
At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder
What would Jimmy Buffett do?
Funny you should ask Alan
I'd say, "Pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care"
Pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care
He don't care
And I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere
What time zone am I on? What country am I in?
It doesn't matter, it's five o'clock somewhere
It's always on five in Margaritaville, come to think of it
I heard that
You been there haven't you?
Yes, sir
I've seen your boat there
I've been to Margaritaville a few times
All right, well that's good
Stumbled my way back
Okay, well we just wanna make sure you can keep it between the navigational beacons
Between the buoys, I tell you
All right, well, it's five o'clock, let's go somewhere
I'm ready, crank it up
Let's get out of here
I'm gone
Workday passes like molasses in wintertime, but it's July
I'm gettin' paid by the hour, and older by the minute
My boss just pushed me over the limit
I'd like to call him somethin', I think I'll just call it a day
Pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve, but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere
Well this lunch break is gonna take all afternoon and half the night
Tomorrow morning I know there'll be hell to pay, hey, but that's all right
I ain't had a day off now in over a year
My Jamaican vacation's gonna start right here
If the phone's for me, you can tell 'em I just sailed away
And pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve, but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere
I could pay off my tab
Pour myself in a cab and be back to work before two
At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder
What would Jimmy Buffett do?
Funny you should ask Alan
I'd say, "Pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care"
Pour me somethin' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve but I don't care
He don't care
And I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere
What time zone am I on? What country am I in?
It doesn't matter, it's five o'clock somewhere
It's always on five in Margaritaville, come to think of it
I heard that
You been there haven't you?
Yes, sir
I've seen your boat there
I've been to Margaritaville a few times
All right, well that's good
Stumbled my way back
Okay, well we just wanna make sure you can keep it between the navigational beacons
Between the buoys, I tell you
All right, well, it's five o'clock, let's go somewhere
I'm ready, crank it up
Let's get out of here
I'm gone
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
It's Five O'Clock Somewhere Lyrics as written by Jim Moose Brown Donald Edmond Rollins
Lyrics © Spirit Music Group, Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
5 o'clock somewhere might be giving aid to Dolly Parton's associated song called 9-5 as we all know that extra 30 minute lunch is there. The song is saying he is known to possibly drink a beer at lunch. Mind you, he is probably his own boss or his wife is because he talks about boss given him hard time so he clicks out early. The song however seems to suggest you shouldn't blow your lid at work else your boss might say, "your fired - I'll mail your final check to you." If you start adding you day's hours with lunch they might tell you it is close enough to quitting time that he'll pay you for the day. If you don't know about then you know on Saturday if you started drinking at noon you have a friend who might say it is close enough but its 5 oclock somewhere which means you can get chatty Cathy about work's mones.